The Market In 5 Minutes: Facebook Beats, First Solar Falls And A 108-Year Drought Ends

Macro Focus

The main U.S. stock benchmarks were on track to open slightly higher on Thursday, but Facebook Inc. was dropping in premarket action as shareholders booed its latest revenue forecast.

Oil prices rose as a weakening U.S. dollar provided a lift, but market sentiment remained cautious after data showed U.S. crude inventories made their largest gains in more than 30 years last week.

USA Initial Jobless Claims for Oct 28 265.0K vs 258.00 consensus estimate. The prior reading was 258.0K. USA Continuing Claims for Oct 21 2.03M vs 2.04M consensus estimate. The prior reading was 2.04M.

• The Markit services PMI for October is schedule for release at 9:45 a.m. ET.
• Data on factory orders for September will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET.
• The ISM non-manufacturing index for October is schedule for release at 10:00 a.m. ET.
• The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on natural gas stocks is schedule for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.
• Data on money supply for the latest week will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET.

BZ News Desk

• First Solar FSLR Reports Q3 EPS $1.22 vs. Est. $0.74, Rev. $688M vs. Est. $988.6M
• Facebook FB Reports Q3 Adj. EPS $1.09 vs $0.97 Est., Sales $7.01B vs $6.92B Est.
• Qualcomm QCOM Reports Q4 Adj. EPS $1.28 vs $1.13 Est., Sales $6.18B vs $5.84B Est.
• Whole Foods WFM Reports Q4 EPS $0.28 vs $0.24 Est., Sales $3.5B vs $3.5B Est.
• Take-Two TTWO Reports Q2 Adj. EPS $0.45 vs $0.29 Est., Sales $420.2M vs $402M Est.
• Fitbit FIT Reports Q3 EPS $0.19 vs. Est. $0.19, Rev. $503.8M vs. Est. $506M
• Wynn Resorts WYNN Reports Q3 EPS $0.75 vs. Est. $0.78, Rev. $1.1B vs. Est. $1.12B

Sell-Side Themes

Fitbit received at least six downgrades this morning following its 30 percent after-hours drop amid poor guidance.

JPMorgan and Stifel downgraded Cempra CEMP to Hold.

Sell-Side's Most Noteworthy Calls

• Oppenheimer downgraded First Solar FSLR to Perform.
• Bank of America upgraded U.S. Steel X to Neutral.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded LendingClub LC to Overweight.
• Deutsche Bank started Ariad Pharmaceuticals ARIAD at Hold.
• Piper Jaffray started Theravance Biopharma TBPH at Overweight.

Deal Talk

Valeant Pharmaceuticals VRX is said to be exploring a sale of its eye-surgery equipment business for as much as $2.5 billion, according to sources as reported by the Wall Street Journal. Valeant acquired the business with its purchase of Bausch & Lomb. This follows a report on Tuesday that Valeant is in talks to sell its Salix Pharmaceuticals stomach-drug business for $10 billion.

Shares of Angie's List ANGI spiked to a high of $8.13 Tuesday, on unconfirmed market chatter that there are multiple bidders for the consumer review website. An MKM analyst said Tuesday, "Angie's List could be an attractive asset for a strategic investor/ acquirer from a tangential space," while an Oppenheimer analyst stated that management is "likely focused on a strategic investment to accelerate growth vs. a potential sale."

In The News

England's High Court ruled that the British government requires parliamentary approval to trigger the process of exiting the European Union, a major upset for Prime Minister Theresa May's plans for Brexit. The sterling rose on the news, with many investors taking the view that lawmakers would temper the government's policies and make an economically disruptive "hard Brexit" less likely.

Secret recordings of a suspect talking about the Clinton Foundation fueled an internal battle between FBI agents who wanted to pursue the case and corruption prosecutors who viewed the statements as worthless hearsay, people familiar with the matter said.

Blogosphere

"[E]ven with all this negativity there is one measure of risk taking in the market that is showing there is risk taking going on," writes Greg Harmon of Dragonfly Capital. "It is the ratio of emerging markets to the S&P 500. This ratio can be thought of as the trade off between buying stable country equity risk premium vs that of high risk countries."

Trending

FB CHK FSLR JDST SBUX DUST CEMP AMAG AGIO

For the first time in 108 years, the Chicago Cubs are #WorldSeries champions. The Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians 8-6 in 10 innings in a thrilling Game 7 last night.

Guess This Chart

• This stock traded down around 30% Wednesday after releasing poor guidance in its earnings report.
• It was one of the more popular IPOs of 2015.
• Sympathy plays could include Apple and Nike.